Today’s students have grown up in violent times.

While watching or reading the daily news, there is no avoiding words like “murdered,” “drugs,” or “guns.”

This Monday is day to forget all that. Monday in National Random Acts of Kindness Day — our job is to be kind…randomly.  On this day, it is highly supported that you give a random high five or look at your teacher and just say thanks. You may get crazy looks, but you’ll know deep down that you did something great.

The point of this day is to build a community around yourself where words like the ones stated above aren’t the only things you hear on the news anymore. It’s meant to create kindness in communities across the nation, and even across the world.

While some things like saying please, thank you and your welcome as a sixth sense to some, it doesn’t even cross most teens’ minds.

If you want to do something randomly kind on this day but just can’t think of something, here are some suggestions:

• Hold the door open for someone
• Smile at a random person
• Say thank you to your teachers or parents
• Give something of value to a homeless person
• Put a coin in an expired meter
• Give someone a hug
• Shovel snow for a neighbor
• Buy something for the person behind you in line (fast food restaurant, store, etc.)
• Share a snack
• Leave money in the vending machine
• Donate to Goodwill or the Salvation Army
• Help keep your classroom clean
• Volunteer at a food bank
• Offer help to an elderly or handicapped person in need
• Stick up for someone if you see them being bullied
• Sincerely compliment someone
• Leave random stick notes with nice messages
• Throw away someone else’s trash
• Tell your parents you love them
• Thank a police officer/soldier

Still haven’t figured out the right act of kindness for you? Maybe you will be persuaded by your peers’ responses to the following question:

If you were to do a random act of kindness, what would it be?

“I would probably make cards for our soldiers so they know that someone is thinking about them on holidays” -junior Meaghan Owens

“I would get a group together and clean up the sides of the roads or go Downtown to a neighborhood and paint” – English teacher David Proctor

“I would make sure veterans would have shelter and something to eat” – senior Dustin Tucker

“I just recently picked a kid from each class that I felt didn’t connect well with others and bought a Valentine’s Crush for them” -math teacher Jacob Goodman

“I would pay for a less fortunate persons day of joy (birthday or Christmas)” -senior Jessika Jones

“I would carry somebody’s grocery bags and help for the groceries if it was a large bill” -senior Jenny Edison